X-Force #23 (X-Force by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beast’s inexorably slide into moral ambiguity finds him, uh, with a tiny man inside him. And, as everyone knows, the solution to having one tiny man inside you, is to get your friend to put a tiny version of themselves inside you.

Also, Colossus’s brother, Mikhail Rasputin is up…to something. This is not unconnected to the tiny man inside Beast.

This is good stuff. Percy’s moving all the plot lines he’s had on the boil for a while forward, intertwining them and, it feels, things are finally coming to a head. I’m fascinated by Beast’s determination not to die because he fears that his friends will take the opportunity to bring him back as he used to be, rather than the self-confessed bastard that he’s become.

Things, I suspect, are not going to end well for Beast and we’ve had out first hints at how the character is likely to go through a reset…a decision which, I expect, will have its own moral repercussions.

The art is solid, the writing engaging, all in all this is another fine issue of X-Force.

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X-Force #22 by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This arc really hasn’t grabbed me. I find the whole telefloronics thing a bit beyond me, but on top of that this issue uses the whole “you’re unknowingly working for the very person who wronged you” trope…which is so over done that it was used in the Snake Eyes movie that I watched last night.

Also…come on…a version of Man-Thing who kills people called Man-Slaughter? Maybe I’m just too old to do anything but roll my eyes at that. I usually enjoy Percy’s writing, and this issue certainly isn’t bad…it just didn’t really do anything for me. Maybe it’s because I’ve got too used to single issues also furthering some overarching plot.

The art is also…just ok. I mean, like the writing, it’s not bad, but it could be better.

Overall this is a perfectly decent comic, I’ve just come to expect more from the X-line.

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X-Force #21 (X-Force by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So, as well as Krakoan technology, and Terra Verde telefloronics, we now also have Man Things! The plants are taking over!

This wasn’t a bad issue, but it just left me a little cold. It also made me think about the way time passes in the Marvel universe too much. It opens with a flash back to the events of a few months ago, but Quentin is in his new costume…so…uh…yeah…just don’t think about it too much.

Still, the art is lovely and the writing is solid, and I’ll probably thoroughly enjoy what it’s setting up!

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X-Force #20 (X-Force by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

X-Force are running security for the Hellfire Gala and as such we get to see a scene from Marauders #21 play out in more detail, namely Quentin’s encounter with Tony Stark, in which the two geniuses butt heads. We don’t learn too much more than we already knew, other than that they’re both massive ass hats. Which, uh, we already knew.

Meanwhile, Beast is up to something…and that something is getting himself confused with The Almighty. No, not the Glaswegian hard rock band from the Nineties, but God themself. Beast’s god complex has run rampant, particularly in regards to Terra Verde, and now Emma has found out and, uh, things are going very, very wrong…

Meanwhile, Deadpool crashes the party, because of course he does.

Top notch stuff from the Hellfire Gala! And I’m also impressed that this even is being used to bring long running plot threads to fruition rather than derailing them.

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X-Force #19 by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, Brown’s art…I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan, the guy needs to work on how he draws people, and he really, really needs to be paired with a decent inker (he’s either inking himself here or he’s not being inked at all, I can’t quite tell…but it doesn’t work). Where he excels, however, is depicting the twisted visions of the dreamscape, and his storytelling is also strong.

Percy’s writing is, as always, the high point here, as he quite literally gets inside Quentin’s head and shows us how far he’s come as a character, how his relationship with Phoebe makes him stronger. I also like the idea of us all being connected through the dreamscape…a sort of collective unconscious (and enjoyed the reference to Scott and Emma’s infidelity in the part too).

Quentin’s gone on a real journey during this run, and I like the way Percy used what initially seemed to be a running gag…Quentin dying on every mission…and used it as a way to develop, explore and evolve his character.

Cassara’s cover is also superb. I believe he’ll be back on artistic duties next issue, which is something to look forward to!

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X-Force (2019-) #18 by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This issue tended towards the dark, which X-Force has always done, but without the flashes of humour that have made that bearable in previous issues. It just felt relentlessly grim, and while X-Force has, I’ll concede, been getting progressively darker, this felt a little too grim for my tastes. There was none of the sweet tenderness that we’ve seen in the interactions between Quentin and Phoebe in the past either.

I can’t help but think that some of the shift in tone is down to the change in artist. Brown’s art is by no means bad, and GURU-efx do their usual sterling work on the colours, but Cassara this is not, and that’s a shame. Where Brown does shine, however, is in the twisted visions manifested by Quentin’s doppelganger.

Still, a perfectly decent issue, which gave us some answers as to exactly what’s been going on in this book, but just not as good as recent issues, sadly.

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X-Force #17 by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, this was just wonderful.

From the many death of Quentin Quire, to the touching moments between Quentin and Phoebe, to Quentin requesting a change in the size of his [REDACTED] when being resurrected, this was both funny and emotional in equal measures.

But underlying it all is the creeping threat which is almost certainly a doppelganger or clone of Quentin being controlled by XENO. I suspect that Quentin Quire is about to find out that he is, quite literally, his own worst enemy.

Quentin’s new costume is also great, and I can’t say enough good things about Cassara’s art.

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X-Force (2019-) #16 by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Benjamin Percy is fast becoming one of my favourite X-writers.

This is just fantastic stuff. Forge is increasingly nuts, Beast is increasingly creepy and Quentin Quire is…well Quentin Quire. Although, I thought Cable was dating all of the Cuckoos? Apparently not Phoebe, cos she’s all Quentin’s, and gives him the motivation to not die during an X-Force mission for probably the first time in seventeen issues. But, seriously, I’m 100% here for Quentin/Phoebe smoochy times.

The real star of this issue, however, is the art. Joshua Cassara’s art is just stunning here, and his depiction of what lies in the depths is incredible. Do I mean the weird, god-like, Cthulhu-cancer monster offshoot of Karakoa or do I mean Namor’s abs? You decide.

Anyway, good comic is good. Go read it.

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X-Force #15 by Benjamin Percy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

X-Force is the clearest indication that something is rotten in the state of Krakoa.

And that something is Beast.

Which is a fascinating and completely appropriate direction to take Hank McCoy in.

But while there’s something rotten politically at the heart of Krokoa, the island itself seems to have spawned some kind of Lovecraftian whale…maybe that’s related. Maybe the rot at the heart of Krakoa’s government is also manifesting something physically rotten? I just hope the dog’s okay…

This book continues to be heavily tied into Wolverine’s solo book, which shouldn’t be surprising as they’re both written by Benjamin Percy. But, as such, you might be a bit confused about all the talk of vampires and Dracula if you haven’t been reading that book too. But, you know, you really should be, it’s great.

The art here might not be to everyone’s taste, but I really like it, and I’m certainly enjoying the more diverse range of artistic styles in the X-books these days.

Overall, X-Force seems to be settling into a really excellent run, with great art and great writing, and an exploration of how the rot of fascism can take root at the heart of what otherwise seems to be a utopian nation.

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